Uyghur Sources

Mehmet Tohti [Former Vice President, World Uyghur Congress]: "A recent report released by Human Rights Watch over the inadequacy and unfairness of the trials of Urumqi protestors has brought our memory back to the July 5 massacre committed by the Chinese military and government backed Han Chinese mobsters.

On This edition of “Viewpoint with James Zogby”- Guests included Rebiya Kadeer, international human rights advocate and “Mother of the Uyghur”; Alim Seytoff, General Secretary of the Uyghur American Association; Ed Gabriel, former U.S. Ambassador to Morocco, President and CEO of Gabriel Company, LLC; and Maen Areikat, the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s representative to the United States.

"Horrible video footage posted on the internet regarding the July 5th Urumqi massacre has brought some international attention and at the same time revealed the bitter reality that can be summarized as miserable Uyghurs

Those who have been silenced for too long, tell their personal stories. Three lives, three different generations, but engaged in the same struggle towards finding peace for the Uyghurs living in the Xinjiang Province in China. UNPO introduces Voices From…East Turkestan.

When I was growing up, we Uighurs were discriminated against because of our race, of course. But at least back then the Beijing government didn't try to portray us as terrorists. At least the Han Chinese weren't made to believe that we were evil.

The situation in East Turkestan in the spring of 1989 was tense but hopeful. Most people, whether they were Uyghurs, Chinese, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, or other groups, had a sense that change was coming to China in spite of the serious political atmosphere.

Mehmet Tohti [Former Vice President, World Uyghur Congress]: "Kory Teneycke, spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, told the Associated Free Press that "Canada is not looking to take any detainees from Guantánamo...In the case of the Uighurs and other Guantanamo Bay detainees Canada has no interest", in response to the Obama Administration's request of settling some of the Uyghur detainees kept in Guantanamo.

A piece of history is being slowly erased, a culture is evaporating, an identity is fading, a nation is being annihilated, and millions are dying. All of this is happening now and has been happening for over half a century.